


Do You Believe In Fate?

by whosthatpokaimon



Series: Soulmate Nygmob [2]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Fluff, Fluff and Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, and im pissed about it, but its ok cause she dies, isabella exists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 07:42:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23347873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whosthatpokaimon/pseuds/whosthatpokaimon
Summary: Soulmate AU - Red string of fate.Oswald wasn't Edward's first soulmate, but looking at his relationship history, he certainly wouldn't let him be his last. He'd rather have Oswald as a soulmate than none at all.
Relationships: Kristen Kringle/Edward Nygma (mentioned), Oswald Cobblepot/Edward Nygma
Series: Soulmate Nygmob [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675159
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Do You Believe In Fate?

**Author's Note:**

> yes, another soulmate au, but i can't help it :')

Even as a friendless teenager, Edward had known of the Red String since before he even had his own. He overheard groups of kids in school claim that when they turn 18, their strings will connect them with their crush or current partner. He didn't really have a good relationship with his father and never had a mother to directly tell him about the Red String, hell, he never really had any romantic interests in high school, thought of it as a distraction from the chance to gain intelligence, but he was hopeful of where his string would take him in the future.

But, alas, on his 18th birthday, the string never appeared. The soft wool never coiled his pinky. Ah, well, perhaps he just hadn't talked to his soulmate yet. He didn't really _do_ the whole popularity scene, anyways. He preferred to keep to himself, only interested in moving forward and discovering new facts about some of the smallest things. Who knew, maybe his extensive knowledge on certain topics could come to use someday? Especially since he wanted to work in the police force. He didn't prefer a certain area, just helping fight crime seemed good enough for him. Perhaps he could work in forensics...

Yeah, forensics sounds good.

He went to college at Gotham U, graduated top of his class, but even at college, he never got his string. He was slowly starting to lose hope that he would ever get his string. Working at the GCPD was no hope either... Until he saw Kristen Kringle.

He could already feel the connection, though no string appeared. With time, perhaps. Until then, he'd try his best to do everything he could do to woo her little heart. He was certain there'd be a string. She was too... Stunning. An interesting character. Beautiful in her own way. He just had to be patient.

She appeared to have an interesting way of organization, but that only added to her uniqueness. Perhaps some interesting facts could show his intelligence. A riddle, maybe? Ooh, a love letter! All of the above seemed too perfect to choose just one. Ah, well, he'll just have to use all of them.

Well, it somehow managed to work in just the opposite effect he had hoped for. The facts made him seem odd, the riddle he had given her (in the form of a velvet cupcake with a bullet on it) was a bit grotesque and creepy, and one of her partners had gotten into her desk and read the love letter he had written to his own group of buddies with her. That partner did end up getting arrested, however, so that's good. After all, a woman like Kisten wouldn't want to be with a criminal, right? Soulmate or not, though Ed never believed he was her soulmate in the first place. Fate wouldn't be _that_ horrible, would it?

That's what he thought until he brought Miss Kringle flowers and saw her with _Tom Dougherty_ , of all people. He knew there was something shifty about Tom, especially the way he talks to Kristen and calls Ed "Riddle Man".

Not thinking it could get worse, Edward found Kristen crying in the files annex with a bruise on her arm.

Ed _knew_ there was something wrong with Dougherty. He was a dirty woman abuser. Something had to be done. Ed ignored Kristen's statement about it all being okay. This was _not_ okay. That night, he sat outside Kristen's apartment, waiting for Tom to show his gross self. Soon enough, he was walking towards Kristen's apartment building. Edward took the opportunity to stop him.

"I won't let you hurt her," Ed warned.

They shared a very unpleasant exchange, but it all ended so soon. Tom had started approaching Ed and, out of self-defense, he prepared his pocket knife in his hand. Tom mentioned that sometimes women need a "helping hand". Those, coupled with "Riddle man... Why..." would be his last words as Edward thrust his knife into Dougherty's chest.

"Oh, dear. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear..." Edward was murdering a man, but he couldn't bring himself to stop. He also couldn't choke down his manic laughter at the situation. He just killed Tom Dougherty. He killed an officer. _He killed someone._ Yet, in a way, it was exhilarating. Relieving. _Absolutely thrilling._

But Kristen could never know about this. He had to work on hiding the body, and fast. There are chemicals at the GCPD that could melt the flesh away and he could cremate the bones. Not too bad of a plan for something last minute. No body, no crime, right?

Kristen's concern was easily pushed away with a well thought out lie about the body Edward was disintegrating in the M.E. Lab. With Tom gone, he could get a chance to talk to Kristen. Perhaps a date? Well, first, he had to take care of her suspicion over Tom. A simple note should suffice.

* * *

_Now and then a man's got to take a trip out of town. Don't_

_you worry your pretty little head about it. I'll be back in_

_good time. Don't wait around for me. Go have some fun and_

_maybe I'll give you a call when I get back in Gotham._

_And if not, hey, it was fun._

_\- Dougherty_

* * *

Perfect.

He delivered the letter, finally noticing something on his finger. A red string, tightly bound onto his pinky. It must have been Kristen. Who else could it be? He didn't interact with any new people recently.

She seemed to believe the note, _thank goodness_ , and told her to read between the lines. In that context, the note he had written was an acrostic note, in that the first letter of each line spelled out a word. In this case, that word was "Nygma". Well, she seemed to notice it, coming back a couple of days later to point it out to him. Of course, he had to claim that it must have been just a silly coincidence, but she believed him on that as well, leaving with a worried look in her eyes.

_Gah, why did you have to leave a clue?!_

He felt like he was splitting apart, talking to himself as if there was another person there, taunting him. He couldn't help but laugh at it, the other voice speaking as if it was just another part of Edward he hid deep down. The episode soon ended, but it left Ed with no choice but to tell Kristen how he felt, now that he finally had a chance. Maybe that would get his darker side to shut up. He didn't need to act up like that again.

When a few days have passed, The Maniax managed to infiltrate the GCPD. One member tried to fire at Kristen and Edward didn't have time to even process his own actions before he tackled her, ultimately bringing her out of the way of the bullet. The bullet grazed his arm, but it didn't matter. He saved Kristen's life and maybe that would get her to realize how much she means to him and hopefully find it heroic enough to get her to fall for him. He later left her another note, asking her to come back to his apartment for dinner. Now, all there was to do was wait.

When she arrived at Ed's apartment, she looked _stunning._ Absolutely breathtaking. She sure seemed to dress for the occasion.

"Oh, I expected a restaurant." She spoke, smiling softly. Her smile really brightened her face.

"Well, I like to cook..." Ed replied with a nervous laugh. He guided her to sit at the table he set neatly just for them and popped open the bottle of wine that he had.

The date, Ed would say, went wonderfully. They talked endlessly, getting to know each other better and making each other laugh with their antics. She even mentioned that Tom was at the other end of her string, thinking he must have cut it when he left. It was all so great until Ed slipped up.

"I'm glad he's dead." in the coldest voice he's ever heard from himself. Everything went silent as he surprised even himself.

"... What?" Kristen looked at him with a confused look. Ed was quick to save it, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"It was a figure of speech to say he was gone, he's not _dead_ dead, he's just dead from your life." He responded quickly. It took her a moment, but she seemed to kind of buy it, excusing herself from the room. An argument with his other half later and Kristen was worried that he was talking to her when he told the voice to leave him alone. Not wanting to be too direct yet, he told her it was just a voice that told him bad things. She understood and they ended the night with a kiss. It felt nice to finally feel her lips on his.

He told everyone at work the next day about his new relationship and nobody seemed to care. As per usual. but he didn't care. He didn't need approval from his coworkers to be happy. The more time that passed, the closer Ed and Kristen had become. One night after another date in his apartment, they had quite the heated makeout session. Ed almost didn't want to pull away.

"Is that your bedroom, Mr. Nygma?" She spoke in a low and seductive tone. He looked at his bedroom door before looking back at her and smirking.

"Why, yes it is."

* * *

"Very funny, Ed." She rolled her eyes, unbelieving of the story Ed had told her after their intercourse. He had just shared the truth with her, that he killed Officer Dougherty, but she didn't seem to believe him. He could have stopped there, played it off as if it was some kind of joke, but the desire to tell her the truth overcame his fear.

"It's not a joke, Kristen."

Her previous expression was completely wiped and replaced by one of concern and worry. Bad idea, Ed. He should have stopped. Instead, he pulled out Tom's badge and she looked _horrified._

Kristen's words jumbled together in Edward's mind, consisting mostly of "Psychopath" and "I should have known". He warned her, he really did, but his other half had gained control as Kristen tried to leave. As she headed towards the door, she snagged a pair of scissors off the table and cut their string. Edward no longer felt like himself, lost in a blind rage. He shoved her against the metal door with his hand tightly clamped around her throat. She looked so afraid and Edward hated that he caused that fear. He would never hurt her, never make her upset again, he loved her, he couldn't...

Well... A bit too late for that... Her limp body slid to the floor, now lifeless. _Oh God, he killed her!_ Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit...

When it finally hit Edward that she was dead, he could barely handle it. His world fell apart beneath his fingertips. All he could do was break with the rest of it. He held her close, screaming and crying with absolute regret. That was how he fell asleep that night, holding his dead girlfriend against his door with tears rolling down his face uncontrollably. But when he awoke, she was gone. His other half must have taken control of his body while he was asleep and hid her somewhere. The only question was _where._ He had to find her before anyone else did. He took a quick glance at his hand and the string remained disconnected from Kristen. It simply hung there from his finger like a reminder that it wasn't all just a nightmare.

Once he found her body, he admitted to himself that it actually felt kind of great to be that close to getting caught. He took her to the woods to bury her but, in the process, he found that someone else was there. He couldn't have any witnesses, that would bring chaos to his workplace. He searched and searched, following the trail he found in the mud, but when he got to the end of the trail, the door to an RV slammed open and out stumbled The Penguin. That was quite unexpected. He appeared to be severely injured, collapsing to the ground half-dead.

"Mr. Penguin...?" Ed said as he fell back from the surprise of the whole thing.

"H-Help me... Please..." He spoke in a raspy voice before passing out. Edward's only thought was that he _had_ to take Oswald back to his apartment. He'd take him to a hospital, but he was an incredibly wanted man, It would be too dangerous. Edward's only option was to take him back home with him and nurse him back to health himself. Perhaps he could use this opportunity to his advantage and get some advice on this... Darker path fate seemed to drag him down. Perhaps even grow a friendship or a partnership with the shorter male.

So, that's exactly what he did. He took Oswald back to his car and drove back to his apartment. Oswald remained unconscious throughout the entire car ride, as well as while Ed was stitching up a bullet wound in his shoulder and bandaging it up. His string still hung from his finger, disconnected. He tried not to think about it as he waited for Oswald to wake up.

When the smaller man finally stirred in the bed, Edward walked over and sat on the edge of it, watching intently with a smile. The Penguin slowly opened his eyes.

"Hello, sleepyhead."

"Uh... Huh...?!" Oswald panicked, shifting around before wincing in pain at his shoulder. "Wh-Where am I-?!"

"Elevated heart rate can be counterproductive to the healing process." Ed tried to relax him but to no avail. He was left with no choice but to simply knock him out again so his panic didn't interfere with his wound. He grabbed a tranquilizer needle and drove it into Oswald's neck. When he awoke once more, he was no longer in a panic. He seemed more bored and annoyed than anything. Edward confessed his murders, finding it relieving to actually say aloud. He even made a peace offering, having kidnapped a man for Oswald to kill.

It seemed like all he wanted to do was leave, but Ed made it clear that he was still injured and it would be incredibly dangerous if Oswald tried to leave. So, at Ed's apartment, he stayed. Oswald tended to eat a lot of tuna sandwiches and PB&Js as if Ed didn't have anything else to eat in the entire flat. Once Oswald was fully recovered from the bullet wound in his shoulder, they took down Gotham's new mayor, Theo Galavan, for killing Oswald's mother and Edward worked hard at trying to get Jim Gordon out of his way. Unfortunately, Oswald came out of Arkham a new man, he got caught framing Jim, and was sent to Arkham himself, where Oswald often visited once he was his old, selfish, murderous self again. Though, he did get a major glow-up. Edward had long since given up on a second chance at love, his string still hanging from his finger as a cold reminder of what he's done.

Oswald later broke Edward out of Arkham to help him run a campaign as mayor. He didn't expect to become Oswald's Chief of Staff, but he had a job now, and that's all that matters. It felt like an honor working so close to The Penguin. After that night when Oswald realized he'd won, even after Edward took back all the bribes from the city officials, he seemed to wear gloves quite a lot. He had never seen him without them after that. He thought nothing of it, considering it just a part of Oswald's aesthetic. As the Chief of Staff, he mainly helped with paperwork and schedules, but there seemed to be on thing standing in their way: The Red Hood gang.

He ended up finding the leader to be Butch Gilzean, having been salty about Edward gaining the role of Oswald's right-hand man instead of him. He set up a plan to get a genuine reaction out of Oswald when he found out it was Butch the whole time. He convinced Butch that he would betray Oswald within a heartbeat and gave him fake bullets. When Oswald was "shot", he removed Butch's hood and the look of shock on the mayor's face was worth the setup. It did end up backfiring a bit, though...

When Butch realized it was all an elaborate trap to get Oswald to see his betrayal, he lunged for Edward and grabbed a tight hold onto his neck. Ed did end up passing out from the lack of oxygen, but he awoke with a gasp moments later to see Oswald kneeling over him. Was he crying? Oswald smiled with a relieved laugh that Edward was still alive. Later that night, Oswald treated him to a nice, warm cup of ginger tea with honey in front of the fireplace at the mansion. He was told that it was his mother's remedy for a sore throat.

"I hope you know, Oswald, I would do anything for you. You can always count on me."

They shared a warming embrace, comforting in a friendly kind of way. While they were touring a school in Gotham a could of days later, Oswald had asked Ed over for dinner at the mansion to talk about important topics, as he put it. He offered to pick up a nice bottle of wine. That night was when he found _her..._

He thought she was Kristen at first, it almost terrified him. She introduced herself as Isabella and he immediately hit it off with her. She very closely resembled Kristen and she loved riddles. He had ended up completely forgetting about his meeting with Oswald, spending the rest of his night with Isabella. They parted ways with a kiss and, on his way back to the mansion, he checked his hand for the first time since Arkham.

The string was reconnected once more. He smiled to himself, thinking of Isabella all the way back.

When he returned, he was met with a very tight hug from Oswald. Apparently, he thought Ed went missing when he didn't show for dinner the previous night.

"I met someone." There was a long, silent pause, Ed getting giddy from what he was about to confess. "I think I'm in love!"

Oswald just looked at him without a reply. He didn't care. He had another chance and he was practically pouncing at the opportunity. Their relationship went great, though he didn't want to end up hurting Isabella as he did with Kristen. He needed to end it for both of their sakes, but he couldn't do it himself. He sent Oswald to convince Isabella to cut their string and get it over with.

It felt good when Oswald came back to tell him she refused to do so. The shorter male seemed almost disappointed at the outcome of the whole situation. Edward didn't have time to worry about it, he had a date with Isabella.

_Well, then..._

When he met with Isabella for their date at her apartment, she had new glasses and she colored her hair that same shade of orange Miss Kringle's hair was. She was a spitting image. She brought her hand to Edward's and trailed it up to her neck, promising him that he wasn't going to hurt her. Ed wanted to back away, leave and never come back, but the string on her finger told him, _begged him,_ to stay. He promised himself that he would do his utmost hardest to keep himself from inflicting pain.

"Do you want me to take off the glasses...?" She said after she broke away from a hungry kiss Edward didn't notice he initiated. He took a moment to think, too clouded with lust now.

"... Keep them on..." He ended up saying, dragging both of them to her bedroom.

* * *

Isabella left shortly after their encounter, Ed following suit and heading back to the mansion. The news that he received the next morning was the exact opposite of what he hoped he would hear.

He rushed to the GCPD to confirm that, yes, it was Isabella's body found in a mangled car crash. The forensic scientist that brought her in pointed out the fact that she had a string, which was unusual. No one but both parties involved should be able to see the string... Unless...

She made a fake string. _She made a fake string._ But he couldn't even bring himself to care about the fact that she faked being his soulmate. He still could have been happy with her, but she had to be taken from him. He looked at his hand and the string was still there, trailing out of the room and to wherever this "soulmate" was. When he later found out that the brake lines on her vehicle were cut, he _had_ to find out who it was. He immediately targeted Tabitha and Butch, but they proved their innocence.

The next person he thought of was Barbara. Of all people, she definitely had something to do it. Though, she proved her innocence as well, but something she said caught him off-guard.

"Penguin." She muttered through obviously fake coughs. He slowly turned to her.

"... Did you just fake cough Penguin?" His voice came out in a low growl. He was _seething._ Oswald was his best friend and the Mayor of Gotham, yet he had the _audacity_ to come between Edward and Isabella. Edward and his happiness.

"You're suggesting. That Oswald. Is in love. With me?" He knew something was wrong when Oswald reacted oddly to Ed's confession of his love for Isabella.

He left Barbara after their conversation to let her do whatever she was doing before he barged in, eyes twitching as he struggled to keep his anger under control. He couldn't tell if he was shaking or not under the pressure. He kept his gaze locked in front of him, dead set on getting back to the mansion as soon as possible. After all, he had a life to _absolutely fuck up_.

He wanted to make sure Oswald died knowing no one cared about him anymore. He wanted to take down his entire empire, drive him to think he was insane, get all of Gotham to see the pathetic man he was. _That_ was how Edward wanted Oswald to die. Powerless and alone. A good start was to get Oswald to confess, he needed a true rejection to start the torturous path he was going down.

He started the conversation like he was trying to tell Oswald he wanted a romantic relationship with the man, yet still vague enough to be twisted into something else. He ended his speech mentioning that he thought they should be more than just friends. Oswald gripped his shoulders with his gloved hands.

"I've been feeling the same way! One cannot deny love..."

Edward gasped and backed away, holding his hands out in front of him. That was all the confession he needed. He then played it off like he was going to say business partners. Oswald looked devastated. A good start. He excused himself to come up with a plan.

He decided that he was going to find that shapeshifter he knew from Indian Hill and get him to look like Oswald's father. Let him walk around Oswald's office a bit and make him believe that he was seeing ghosts. It seemed to have a greater effect than he expected. His hysteria got him kicked out of office. Well, that just means he killed two birds with one stone. Now, on to the fun stuff.

He faked his kidnapping as a trap for Oswald, who fell for it rather easily. He tied Oswald to Isabella's mangled car hood and decided he was going to be taken out by a giant bucket of acid. Oswald was growing more irritating by the second with his defiance and whining. _"i DiD iT bEcAuSe I lOvE yOu_ _"_ God, the more he talked, the angrier it made Ed.

"Love is about SACRIFICE! It's about putting someone else's needs _before_ your own! And the trth is, you would have given up _anything_ to save your own neck... Even me." Surprisingly, it almost hurt to admit that Oswald would discard him to save himself.

Edward walked away and left Oswald to die, but perhaps he should have kept a better eye on him. Oswald managed to escape the trap just in time. The voice in his head that was growing more prominent by the minute spoke up.

_"Admit it, Edward, you couldn't bring yourself to watch him die. He's a part of us, a larger part than you would hardly care to admit."_

And, as if he wanted to prove a point to the stupid voice, he found The Penguin again and took him to the pier. He got an uneasy feeling about it, but that made it all the better. A perfect execution location. He still had his gloves on, _why did Oswald wear gloves all the time?_ That question may never be answered, but he could live without knowing. All he cared about was killing Oswald, right here and right now. He could hear the voice get softer and softer as he ignored its screaming about this being a horrible idea.

Oswald was crying and begging for Ed to spare him, but nothing could sway him now. If Oswald didn't want to die, he shouldn't have interfered with Ed's life.

"Ed, are you listening? Say something, please..." Oswald could barely speak now. The sobbing cracked his voice and Edward could see how much he was emotionally affected by all of this. He hesitated. Why did he hesitate?

_"You care about him too much, Ed! I tried to tell you, but your skull is too thick to see it!"_

"... I'm listening." He spoke in a quiet voice.

"Do you wanna know why I started wearing gloves after that night?" Well, that certainly was unexpected.

_"It's too obvious. You're just too blind to see it."_

"Pull them off, Ed. As a dying man's last wish." Oswald was choking up on his words, clearly trying to hold more tears back. Edward looked between Oswald's heartbroken eyes that gazed into his own and the bound hands that were raised in front of him, the gloves remaining there through the whole ordeal. After a few moments of thought, he decided his curiosity was too great. With the hand that didn't hold his gun, he pulled at the leather on Oswald's hands by the middle finger, practically tearing them off in the process. With the gloves now gone, Ed gasped in shock.

There, on Oswald's pinky, rested a coil of red string. He followed the path with his eyes back to his own hand. It was... It was Oswald the whole time. That feeling low in his gut that he got around the man, the small nervous edge to any situation, the hesitation, oh God, the hesitation...

"I tried to hide it from you because I knew you wouldn't like having me as your soulmate, you were never that type of person." Oswald croaked out, his gaze drifting to the ground. "I-I understand if it doesn't change your mind about killing me."

_"Now is the part where I say "I told you so". Perhaps now you could just be a man and admit that you love him more than you loved Kristen or Isabella."_

"Oswald, I..." He didn't know how to react. Maybe it was time to address his complicated feelings towards Oswald. He had a second chance. After Kristen, he thought it was Isabella, but she faked being his soulmate to pull him closer to her. It was always Oswald. That's why he was always so kind to him. It was so much more than a good friendship. Oswald remained there, silent and patiently waiting for whatever was about to happen to him.

_"Do it, Ed. Accept that this is where fate brought you. After all, you wouldn't want to ruin your second chance, right?"_

For once, he admitted that his other half was right. He let the gun slip from his hands as it clanked against the concrete. Good thing it wasn't cocked. Edward pulled out his pocket knife and cut Oswald's ropes, his expression showing only a fraction of the shock he felt. Oswald looked up at him with bright eyes, the previous fear he felt almost completely vanished. Edward looked up from their hands and into Oswald's eyes, his heart skipping a beat. He really did have beautiful eyes, he just never bothered to see it before.

He brought one of his hands up to Oswald's face and gently rubbed the back of his hand along his cheek in a light caress. Oswald leaned in and practically melted at the touch, a warm blush coming to his tear-stained cheeks. He smiled softly and his eyes fluttered and Ed could have sworn time stopped at that moment. Just the two of them. Edward leaned in, his lips parting slightly as his gaze found Oswald's once more. Oswald met him halfway and they both closed their eyes as their lips slotted together perfectly, like they were made for each other.

In a way, they _were_ made for each other. Fate took them both down rough paths, but brought them to a peaceful, happy ending with each other. When Oswald pulled away, Ed tried to keep them connected and leaned forward to follow him. Oswald chuckled lightly at the gesture, long eyelashes fluttering.

"I love you, Ed."

Now that he could finally put a name to his complex feelings, there was only one way to answer that, his eyes trailing back to the hand still on Oswald's cheek. His hand followed the string to hold Oswald's, lacing their fingers together and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I love you too, Oswald."

**Author's Note:**

> took me a while, but i finally finished it! please don't hesitate to leave a comment, even if it's something short :) i hope you enjoyed this one!


End file.
